Building Youth Leadership for a United Community in Castlederg
Tiernan Moss shares his story:
‘I’m 20 and I live just outside the town of Castlederg in the north west border area of Tyrone and Donegal. Growing up in a rural border area, I always heard multiple stories from my parents, how when the borders were closed it was such a difficult time, just going to school and trying to go and visit family on the other side of the border. My grandparents’ house is five minutes up the road, but they had to go on a massive 35 minute detour around checkpoints, just to get to see my granny. When the borders opened, after the Good Friday Agreement, we could go up and visit granny any time we wanted.
When I went to school here in Castlederg, we would go to St Edward’s School for half a day, to learn how their classes work and just to be with them, and then the St Edward’s kids would come over to our school and they would spend a day with us in our classes. This really got us integrating with children from the other side of the community. I believe it really helped break down those typical ‘us versus them’ mentality within kids. I believe this really helped me moving forward into these different types of programmes.
I’ve been involved with T:BUC programmes since I was 14, but more recently, from 16 onwards, taking part in the United Derg programme, and then graduating on to Uniting Communities, which has led me on to a plethora of other bigger programmes that I'm still involved with.
A lot of people in rural communities, especially on the border, have a good understanding of why these peace programmes are essential for moving forward in the future.
I believe it gives people on the border an opportunity to have their voices heard, but also to integrate with people from other experiences. I've been on programmes now with people from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, all over the country and it's really been an amazing opportunity to hear their stories.
These programmes give people an opportunity to learn from other cultures and to learn from people from the other side of the community. They help break down those stigmas and those wee barriers that people maybe subconsciously have. I believe these types of programmes and the integration with schools from a young age really help deter that type of mindset. I believe people are a lot more willing to engage and cooperate with each other now.
These programmes are definitely providing a brighter future for both my generation and generations to come, so that we will be able to live in a society that isn't as quick to blame one side of the community or the other for whatever may happen.
That we’ll be able to move on from the stuff of the past, so that it’s not such a dominating factor on the island of Ireland.
I think it would be beneficial to start to move away from the whole Catholic Protestant thing and look more towards topics such as environmental issues, different social and economic issues that young people are more interested in.
For my future aspirations, I intend to apply for a cadetship with the Irish Naval Service down in Cork to become an officer and obviously that's a role that requires leadership skills and effective communication skills. I believe these programmes have helped develop my overall skillset to the point where I feel confident that I will be a good officer and would be able to excel in that role.’
Themes: Youth, Rural, Cross Border, Education, Leadership